Mutual Fund Essays (Examples)

Mutual Fund Manager
Definition of the Fund Manager Position and Major esponsibilities

Securities and Exchange Commission defines a mutual fund as a company that pools money from many investors and invests the money in stocks, bonds, short-term money market instruments, other securities or assets, or some combination of these investments (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, 2008). Mutual funds are in turn operated by professional money managers, the fund managers, who invest the fund's capital in accordance with the funds' stated objectives, with the intent to produce capital gains and income for fund investors. This paper examines the role of the mutual fund manager.

Also known as an investment manager, the manager of a mutual fund is responsible for making all the investment decisions on behalf of the investors. The fund manager is tasked with implementing the fund's investment strategy and managing it portfolio trading activities. For these reasons, investors look for specific attributes…

98% to 43.72%. The average fund in this category has a mean total return of -0.64% and a standard deviation of 12.23
USAA Precious Metals and Minerals (USAGX), 2009).

Another factor that one should look at when contemplating investing in a mutual fund is how much the fund has rewarded shareholders relative to the risk they have taken.

One should look at a risk-adjusted measure of performance known as the Sharpe ratio. It balances volatility against total return to reveal funds that have delivered the most gains with the least risk. A good fund will have a Sharpe ratio higher than 1.0. The rule is the higher the Sharpe ratio the better. USAA Precious Metals and Minerals has a Sharpe ratio of 0.3%. The average for all funds in this same category is -0.9%

USAA Precious Metals and Minerals (USAGX), 2009).

If you look at the Modern Portfolio Theory Statistics for the USAGX fund you…

b) It is required that the "summary prospectus appear at the front of a fund's prospectus." (Security Exchange Commission (b))

c) Amendments have been made so that the Internet can be used to give important 'information' inclusive of "description of the fund's investment objectives and strategies, fees, risks, and performance." (Security Exchange Commission (b))

d) The Form N-1A, for mutual funds, should have the "key information at the front of its statutory prospectus" regarding "the fund's investment objectives and strategies, risks, and costs. The summary will also include brief information regarding investment advisers and portfolio managers, purchase and sale procedures, tax consequences, and financial intermediary compensation." (Security Exchange Commission (b))

d) It is enough to send the summary prospectus for the delivery requirements if all other information is made freely available online. The 'online materials' has to be accessible and 'in a format' which permits easy navigation and all information must be made…

The first aspect of successful mutual fund performance is to define a benchmark. Most funds have specific benchmarks that they use both internally and externally. Externally, the benchmarks are often used in promotional material, relating the performance of the fund to the performance of the Dow Jones Industrial Index or some other broad-based market indicator. Funds operating in specific sectors will benchmark against a sector index. The idea behind this is that the fund should demonstrate a track record of success - otherwise the investor should simply purchase the Index, many of which are available as exchange-traded funds. Internally, fund benchmarks are more complex. For example, the risk level of the fund relative to the market is factored into the equation.
The next component of mutual fund performance is the ability to analyze securities. Most major fund companies employ experts who can make specific recommendations within a given sector. The…

The correlation was expected to be relatively weak because even high value funds can experience exceptional performance.
The weakest correlation (0.056), which is not a significant correlation at all, is with the Morningstar rating. This is somewhat surprising, because the Morningstar rating presumably takes the fund's historical returns into consideration. However, in any given year the fund may or may not perform according to its track record. This could result in a divergence between the Morningstar rating and total returns.

There are also correlations noted between the type and the NAV and the type and the expense ratio. It should be expected that the latter would hold, because the cost of managing a fund is dependent on the cost of analyzing and trading the securities the fund. It would be expected, for example, that an international equity fund would cost more to manage than a fixed income fund.

What this analysis shows…

When looking at risk, the fund does have a beta higher than that of its large cap blended peers. The beta of the fund is roughly 1.23 as compared with a beta of 1.04 for many of its peers. This can be attributed to the large concentration in financial stocks which tend to have high betas relative to the market. This is to be expected as financial shares raise disproportionately more when the economy recovers and fall just a much when the economy enters recession. The standard deviation of the portfolio is also higher at 18.15 relative to its peer group standard deviation of 15.86. These numbers again reflect the volatility inherent in a portfolio with 40% of the assets in cyclical industries such as banking and technology.

To improve performance and volatility in the fund, I would recommend two courses of action. First, I would lower the expense ration and…

Load Fees and Mutual Funds 1. Do you think it is worth paying the initial load fees mutual funds sometimes require? Why or why not? Please explain your reasoning.
It is not worth paying the initial load feeds that are at times necessitated by mutual funds. The initial load fees are disadvantageous to investors largely for the reason that it negatively impacts their capability to earn more money from the mutual funds. For instance, if a mutual fund carries an initial load fee of 6.25 percent, it implies that the broker will obtain $625 for every $10,000 that is invested in the fund. The inference of this is that the investor is left with $9,375 to begin with. The implication is that the investor has to find a way of earning back this amount of $625 that was given to the broker in order to break even. Moreover, the investor ends up…

Fidelity Large Cap Stock Fund is a domestic equity fund, comprised of 91% domestics and 9% international equities. As such it is not intended to mirror the performance of either the Dow or S&P 500, but to serve as a competitor product. The foreign stocks are mostly from the UK, Canada, Israel and Ireland. The fund has very little foreign exchange exposure, with 95.91% of the stocks denominated in the U.S. dollar, and just a small amount each in the Canadian dollar and British pound. Most foreign exchange risk in this fund comes from the fact that the fund is comprised mainly of multinational companies, many of which have significant foreign exchange exposure themselves.
Fidelity is one of the largest mutual fund companies, but the Large Cap is not one of its bigger funds, with a portfolio net assets of just $2.9 billion. The expense ratio is 0.88%, and the fund…

Depository Institutions & Mutual Funds WSJ Article eview
In a recent article entitled Advisers Face Barrage of Mutual-Fund Pitchmen, which was published by The Wall Street Journal on March 5th, 2013, financial reporter Corrie Driebusch describes the growing diversity in mutual fund varietals being offered by wealth management firms, as well as the deluge of telephone calls being used by mutual fund wholesalers to court potential brokers. The purpose of the article is to inform readers about this increasingly prevalent distraction faced by wealth managers and financial advisers, who are now forced to deal with dozens, if not hundreds, of solicitations on a daily basis from mutual fund wholesalers hoping to peddle the potential of a profitable fund investment. According to Driebusch, "as the largest wealth-management firms have embraced the widening range of mutual-fund offerings, from products by the traditional heavyweight fund families to newer niche strategies, brokers have more choices…

Investing Capital
Mutual fund

Investing is important for it ensures that at the end of a certain period you can benefit out of your invested money. Investing can be done through investment funds. Investing funds are collective investment schemes that require investor to create a pool of capital and in return the investor enjoys wide diversification, professional management, and lower costs that would have been otherwise impossible using a small amount of money. Several funds company exists all over the world, and so are the online tools that are used to compare performance of these companies. Such companies help to simplifies decision-making process as well as pre-screens investments on behalf of their clients who are not able to choose the best funds that they can invest in. Though there are some private banks that also offer the services, the investors end up paying higher as compared to one fund manager.

Investment Vehicle

They act…

International Mutual Funds
Mutual Funds, the dynamic market:

The business of mutual funds changes continuously and one of the things that is done is to replace the manager of the portfolio, or even change the investment strategy for the fund. If the fund has been badly affected, the practice is to stop buying the risky growth stocks and instead buy the slower industrial and consumer stocks. This is the situation now at many growth funds in the United States which have come down by about 40% during the last two years. Yet the changes often do not lead to the results that are expected, and the changes that may have been correct to take up a couple of years ago may lead to a lot of damages now, after the market has already gone through a decline.

The type of stocks that are not in favor at certain times may again come back…

investment in the mutual fund industry and how fast it's growing. This growth was especially rapid during the 1990s. 401(k) plans have helped out with this growth, and contributed to the large number of mutual funds. Because of the proposed changes to Social Security, and also helped in some way by the Internet, nearly half of all households in the United States own some form of stock. Those who work in the financial industry are also happy about this growth in mutual funds. It means more opportunities for work for them. This article takes a closer look at what goes on, on a daily basis, in the life of a mutual fund accountant.
A mutual fund works much the same way that a partnership does. Mutual funds don't pay taxes, and the earnings that they make go straight through them and to their shareholders who have the responsibility of reporting…

Question One One of the key advantages that mutual funds offer in comparison to company stocks is diversification. In particular, mutual funds will offer the investor diversification by means of the coverage of a range of stocks. The inference of this is that a company stock bears more risk in comparison to a mutual fund. Basically, when an investor invests and owns one company stock, then it implies that he bears the risk of the company, which may not be applicable in other corporations within the similar market sector. This means that if the firm goes through an adverse experience, for instance a manufacturing center breaking down, then the investor experiences a loss (Allaria, 2016).
As a result, investment in a mutual fund means that the investor has a number of different assets within the portfolio. This curtails the investor’s general investment risk as it facilitates spreading the risk faced to various…

1. Which mutual fund or funds did you choose, and why? Please include a discussion about your choice of active or passive funds
The mutual funds that I selected include Fidelity Total Bond, Vanguard Health Care, and Dodge & Cox Stock. These three mutual funds are suitable investment opportunities for generating strong returns for the investor. I selected the Vanguard Health Care Fund because it is an active fund that favors safer portfolio of stocks. In particular, the fund fundamentally invests in medium and large capitalization stocks within the international healthcare industry. In addition, the fees are specifically low despite the fact that it is actively managed. The fund purposes to maintain the fees and expenses to be considerably low, in spite of the fact that funds that are actively managed have greater operating costs as compared to passive funds. Most of all, in comparison to its peers, Vanguard Healthcare Fund…

The Benefits of Mutual Funds and Employers Matching Employees’ Pension Contributions 
Question 1

Investing in a mutual fund has major advantages compared with investing in the company stock. The first benefit is diversification of risk. Mutual funds invest in many different companies, often across different industries (Bogle, 2015). This means if the value on one share in the portfolio falls, or evens collapses, it will not result in a significant decline in portfolio value (Bogle, 2015). This reduces the risk when compared to any investment in a single stock, where a change in the share price will impact directly on the value of the investment (Bogle, 2015). The purchase price of the investment units in the mutual fund will also reflect market condition, as they are determines by the underlying asset prices (Howells & Bain, 2007). This is an advantage compared to the company stock, as the firm is currently private, with…

The investors have responsibility to invest based on the social needs. The retail investor, can for example is thus a person who buys socially responsible unit trusts or mutual funds. Actually the investment that is being touted as responsible investment is the work of socially beneficial institution like pension funds, and some charitable foundations. Normally the institutional investors do not enter the socially responsible investment scenario. Of late however the new approaches to fund investment by the institutions have bordered on social concerns. The issues of institutional investment are more complicated and diverse than the retail funds. (Sparkes, 2002, p. 117)
There are many other investment opportunities available to the retail investor without incurring the risk but at the same time gaining efficiency in value without hedging. The retail investors thus are better off in those segments and hedging must not be opened to them. There are ample other investment…

Unfortunately, determining which fund to go with for a retail investor is difficult, as there are many unscrupulous fund managers who might seek to take advantage of the fact that they are playing with other people's money and making (at least) the management fee. This can lead even scrupulous hedge fund managers to take unnecessary risks.
The danger of hedge funds being mismanaged truly cannot be overstated. For example, Bernie Madoff ran a large exclusive fund and while it was a Ponzi scheme, which while illegal and with "fantasy returns," that sophisticated investors most certainly should have realized were not realistic, Madoff continued to be able to bring in investors. However, Madoff's investors were all relatively financially sophisticated people with huge assets. While his scheme caused them financial damage, the damage was manageable and it was confined to a group of people with assets that greatly outstripped those of the…

Hedge funds are funds that can include short and long positions, trade options or bonds, purchase and sell undervalued securities, and use arbitrage and invest in nearly every opportunity in any market with predictable impressive gains at minimized risks. The basic and main objective of many hedge funds is to lessen volatility and risk while trying to maintain capital and provide positive returns within all market conditions. Hedge fund strategies differ hugely because of the current volatility and expectation of corrections in the overheated stock markets. Notably, there are around 14 different investment strategies that are used by hedge funds with each of them providing varying degrees of return and risk. As a result, understanding the differences between these hedge fund strategies is critical because they provide different investment returns ("What is a Hedge Fund?" n.d.). Nonetheless, certain strategies that are not connected to equity markets are able to provide…

2.3: Theme I: This study's first theme defines hedge funds and presents a synopsis of their history.

2.: Theme 2: Ways hedge funds compare to mutual funds are noted in this section, this study's second theme.

2.5: Theme 3: segment denotes techniques hedge funds utilise in investing.

2.6: Theme : A number of ways rising and falling markets impact hedge funds, this section's theme links to the thesis statement for this thesis/Capstone.

2.7: Analysis: The analysis section presents a number of pertinent points retrieved from the reviewed literature.

CHAPTER III: DISCUSSION; CONCLUSIONS; RECOMMENDATIONS

3.1: Introduction: This final chapter's introduction reviews the original study aim and objectives presented at the start of this thesis/Capstone, relating to hedge funds techniques. This section also recounts this study's thesis statement.

3.2: Discussion: During this segment, this researcher relates final considerations regarding hedge funds techniques, cross-referencing several points the reviewed literature noted. This researcher also reiterates the validity of this study's thesis…

" (Grassi, 2007)
III. HEDGE FUNDS REBOUND FROM SUBPRIME SUMMER in SEPTEMBER

It is related in an October 10, 2007 report that Hedge funds "rebounded nicely from the summer of subprime in September, posting one of their months in a decade." (FINalternatives, 2007) Hedge funds rose 3.27% in September in what is stated to be "the largest increase in four years, and the second largest in eight." (FINalternatives, 2007) the gains are also stated to be broad-based gains. The problem is however, that there is simply not a historical track-record of hedge fund returns to utilize in attempting to predict if these gains are likely to remain or be replaced by losses even greater than over the summer of this year. A discussion of the Financial Economists Roundtable's annual meeting reports the rapid growth of hedge funds in the last decade. The Financial Economists Roundtable is comprised of a group of senior…

In the first-round survey, a majority of investors cited diversification as their main objective in allocating to hedge funds. Among the second-round interviewees who were planning to increase their target allocations by 10% or more, half named diversification as the motivating factor. Among the approximately one in ten who were planning to decrease allocations by at least 10%, concern with a lack of transparency was the most frequently cited reason.
(4) Institutions are thinking and acting as long-term investors. While almost a quarter of second-round interviewees said they have liquidated some investments or plan to do so, overall the investors surveyed showed no inclination toward a long-term exodus from hedge funds. This is understandable, considering that 93% of all interviewees said they make hedge fund investments with a time horizon of at least three years, and more than half have a time horizon of five years or more.

(5) Investors are,…

ETFs
The first step is setting up an investment account is to understand the client. Everything flows from this. The client profile is developed through an extensive interview process, wherein the advisor seeks to gain an understanding of the client's personal circumstances, current and envisioned financial situation, risk tolerance and investment knowledge (Anthony, 2011). With this information, the financial advisor can then build a profile based on the portfolio objectives and risk constraints. For this portfolio, the focus will be on exchange-traded funds. The objective of this exercise is to build the optimal portfolio for the client, taking into account the client's personal circumstances and the variety of funds that are available to build the portfolio.

Client Profile

The client is a male, late 20s, with a long-term girlfriend. They have no current plans for children. They are American, living and working in Miami, and therefore are eligible to purchase securities on American…

Dimensional Fund Advisors Analysis
Philosophy of DFA

Dimensional Fund Advisors (DFA) was an investment firm based in Santa Monica, California that was dedicated to the principle that the stock market was "efficient," therefore implying that while over any given period some investors by luck would outperform the market and others would underperform, no one had the ability to consistently pick stocks that would beat the market (Cohen 2002, pp.1). In addition to this initial philosophy, DFA founders believed strongly that the value of sound academic research and the ability of skilled traders to contribute to a fund's profits even when the investment was inherently passive would not only prove to be a successful business model amongst other firms, but would allow DFA to foster a unique quality of investing that singled it out from competitors.

DFA investments counted on market behavior involving the purchasing and holding of small stocks, accounting for much of…

Contract Dispute
Contract is a mutual agreement between at least two persons or parties, aimed at achieving a certain business goal. A contract can be oral or written, although, over the years, written contract has been preferred due to disputes that may arise in the later period of the contract. Often a lawyer is required during the mutual agreement, to ensure that the contract is legal, and serve as a witness of the agreement between the two. Contractual disputes can be during or even after the business process. This often results due to disagreements between the two parties or even misunderstanding.

Procedures in solving contract dispute

Contract Dispute Act is set by the United State that provides guidelines and procedures required whenever a dispute arises, and such disputes resolutions differ depending on the nature of dispute involved. Dispute resolution process involves filing a contract dispute between the two parties and seeks informal resolution…

Mergers and acquisitions also offer the potential for expansion into a new regional market if the old one is super-saturated, if one of the merging or acquired entities is located in a different area of the world.
On paper, it would seem that mergers and acquisitions can often convey value to a company, but two-thirds of most large mergers fail (Mergers and acquisitions: Why they can fail, 2010, Investopedia). One critical question to ask when evaluating if a merger or acquisition is likely to be successful is if the merging organizations have a similar enough corporate culture and standard operating procedures to truly generate such mutual synergy. Worker motivation may decrease if the corporate cultures are inharmonious. When straight-laced Disney acquired the more freewheeling Pixar studios in a friendly takeover, creating a common culture still proved to be a challenge, despite the fact that both entities were animation studios (What…

Finance
A) I have chosen the Templeton Global Total eturn A, which is a high-performing fund that offers diversification and a global outlook. It is comprised of world bonds and cash. The fund's income is primarily generated from its load, which in this case is 4.25%. This is a front load. The other main cost in a mutual fund is the ME, or management expense ratio (Investopedia, 2014). For this fund, the ME is 1% (Morningstar, 2014).

b) The operating expenses are pretty much the same as for any fund. The fund needs managers, who do research, make investment decisions and administer the fund. The fund is also going to be subject to transaction costs -- while Templeton is big enough to minimize these costs, there are always transaction costs when going into the market.

c) I would say that these fees are fairly reasonable. A bond fund requires less research than an…

Advice (SOA): Financial Planning
Purpose of this document is to prepare a statement of advice (SOA) on the financial planning for David Smith and Brenda Smith to achieve their financial goals. The advice is to communicate important information to clients in order to make informed decision about their financial portfolios. This document is a Statement of Advice or 'SOA' used to explain my advice, and highlights the important points. Please, be sure to read all sections of the SOA.

Summary of my Advice

I recommend that you sell your shares and reinvest the funds in the managed funds, which will assist you to get a return between $17,000 and $29,000 a year. Moreover, I recommend that you invest 60% of your superannuation in the managed funds. I carefully choose the categories of the managed funds that you could invest your money. Based on my recommendation, you are likely to get returns of…

3.2.3 Portfolio Diversification of Investment in Global Property Markets

ecause the global property markets are affected by globalization and specific country / regional factors, means that the overall amounts of risks will vary, the most notable include: transparency and efficiency. Where, each country / region has different on laws and regulations pertaining to the real estate markets. This means that the risks in a number of different markets will depend upon specific market conditions themselves, reflecting these two factors. To protect themselves against these kinds of risks, many investors will often seek to diversify their portfolio. Diversification is: when you are investing a number of different asset classes in real estate, across a variety of countries / regions. The idea is that if a risk occurs in a specific country or region, the other areas that you are diversified in will protect you against the severity of the declines. For example,…

A mutual fund is managed in much the same manner as an individual portfolio. The one key difference is that there are a lot of investors putting their money into a mutual fund. The mutual fund's manager is bound to follow the investment path that would most likely be successful in reaching the mutual fund's goal or objective. Since there are a variety of investors seeking to invest varying dollar amounts, each fund must state explicitly what it is attempting to achieve.
There are as many different mutual funds as there are classifications of investments. Large cap stocks are purchased by large cap mutual funds, small cap stocks by small cap mutual funds.

Mutual funds can be classified as stock or bond funds, fixed income, dividend funds, large, small and medium cap funds, domestic and international funds, growth funds and even foreign market funds. There is usually a mutual fund for…

Fidelity Investments- Human esources
Fidelity Investments

Fidelity Investments- T&D Program

H Transformation strategy- Fidelity Investments

Key Issues identified in interview

Communication

Change management

Technology utilization

Business Case: Context of program application

Mission Metric

Financial Metric

Operational Metric

H redesign

Accountability

Table 1- Implementation and Accountability of L&D program

Figure 2 Business Case ationale for T&D program at Fidelity

Figure 3- H edesign Elements

This H Learning and Development (L&D) program proposed for Fidelity Investments is aimed at addressing the key challenges faced by the firms in its human resource management. There are several instances when H function has contributed to the bottom line of firm as well as pursued an egalitarian culture of society. Present program is spanned over 5 weeks and will be implemented in Americas & Canada region initially. With successful implementation of this L&D program in one region (Americas & Canada), further implementation will be recommended in regions of Europe, MENA, and Asia Pacific.

The desired outcomes of this program are defined as increasing cross-selling…

Microsoft has recorded a slight gain over the past three years, but has demonstrated substantial volatility. The company rose dramatically in 2007, fell sharply in 2008 and has recovered strongly since. The mutual fund as had by far the most stable performance. The fund is slightly down over the three-year period and has been down for most of that time. However, for most of 2009 the mutual fund was performing well above Microsoft and the Dow. The Dow is the poorest performer of the three, demonstrating surprising volatility during that period. The Dow is down more than 10% in the past three years.
This performance must also be measured against the expected performance in order to conduct a proper evaluation. Microsoft's outperformance of the market, for example, represents a strong performance relative to the market. The company's stock has a beta of 0.97, meaning that the expectation is that Microsoft…

After the economic Collapse, precious metals like Gold and Silver have become the safe heaven investment for the investors. Investors know that they will get a high return by investing in these precious metals. The performance of the Gold can be judged from the below mentioned Gold graph.
The red line indicated that the Gold has completed almost a 100% ride in just 3 years because of the intentions of the people to get out their money from other investment option and park in the precious metals. There are risk provisions attached with the investment in these precious metals. Actually the price of the precious metals has been overbought now after the factor of safe heaven investment associated with it. Cautious must be taken by the investors while taking a buying position in the precious metal's investment. Tool like performance indicator of the precious metal will be used by the…

Ideally, mutual funds should represent variety of market sectors throughout the world, to cushion the investor against regional recessions.
Another psychological buffer for the cautious investor is to think of categories of investments, rather than investments in a holistic manner, such as fail-safe investments, long-term growth or retirement money (invested in stocks), and higher risk investments.

This balance will shift with the investor's age, financial profile, and willingness to tolerate uncertainty and speculation. Also, investors may want to consider holding some index funds along with more actively managed mutual funds so as to not miss out on any general market booms, although this does have the downside in that the investor will also experience every market…

Theory (MPT) and its role in asset allocation and diversification. The paper reviews arguments in favor of and against MPT, in addition to reviewing how MPT affects portfolio management.
MPT describes a theory on how risk-averse investors can build portfolios that optimize or maximize expected return based on a given level of market risk, while emphasizing that risk is an inherent factor of higher reward. MPT posits that it is possible to construct an "efficient frontier" of optimal portfolios that offer the maximum possible expected return for a given level of risk (Modern portfolio theory, 2011).

Modern Portfolio Theory

Typically, an investor looking for the ideal investment, would choose one whose attributes included high returns coupled with low risk. The ideal investment probably does not exist, but the search for it has caused financial managers and investment analysts to spend time to develop methods and strategies, many of which are based on…

International Financial Markets and Institutions:
Throughout the globe, today's landscape of international financial market and institutions has continued to experience several changes that require practitioners to examine new models. The need for practitioners to examine new models that are relevant to the state of these markets and institutions has also been necessitated by the recent events that contribute to financial crises, which have been very dramatic. Actually, the recent financial crisis has had significant impacts on the financial institutions and markets resulting in the need for changes. International financial markets and institutions have become an important aspect of economies because they affect daily life. This is primarily because they involve the huge flow of different types of funds in the entire economy that in turn impact the profits of businesses, production of goods and services, and economic well-being of countries. In some cases, the events in these institutions and markets become…

Firms under the guidance of individual investors are more likely to take a conservative approach to ethics, since the shareholders may take a greater interest in this 'human' side to investing than a large firm like Fidelity. Also, very simply, if Fidelity or one of the companies in which it concentrates a large share of its ownership experiences financial difficulties is in trouble, then Fidelity, investors in Fidelity mutual funds, and the economy as a whole, can all be harmed far more than if individual investors selected from a wider range of businesses.
On a larger scale, such consolidation also means that there may be less diversity in investing in new companies in general, given that Fidelity likes to concentrate its holdings amongst several large sectors of the economy, in major and well-established firms. Individual investors have less of an opportunity in this investment climate to extend their influence to…

As a customer, I will expect quality services from BDO.
Mutual funds portfolio turnover is one of the easily explained investment qualities for investors. While expressed as percentages, it shows the portion of securities in the fund's portfolio of those sold and bought in a year. All these information is found in the reports and financial statements we present. When the lower percentage figure is reported, it will equate to a long portfolio-holding period. For example, if the turnover is 10% it means that the portfolio would be reconstituted after five years. On the other hand, when the turnover is 100% the portfolio will be reconstituted in one year. I will select one with 100% turnover because it can be reconstituted in a period of only one year (Feldman & Libman, 2011, p. 43). This will be economical and profitable instead of waiting for a long period to be reconstituted.

When…

e. no standardization) b) Diamonds: good medium of exchange
Peaches: perishable, differences in quality (i.e. no standardization) d) Grade a Honey: differences in quality (i.e. no standardization), difficult to transport e) Ice in a warm climate: perishable, difficult to store a. Over the long run, what is the primary determinant of the price level? Supply and demand, with price acting as an equilibrator b. Over the long run, what is the primary determinant of inflation?

The supply of money as compared to changes in productivity.

c. How is inflation related to the nominal interest rate?

Expectations of future inflation are one of the key factors in determining the nominal interest rate, the other being the 'core' interest rate, or the inflation-free level at which one is willing to lend money (which differs according to the issuer and associated risk premium).

4. Describe each of the following financial institutions. If it is a financial intermediary, describe…

The increase in profits (at certain points) highlights the overall risks vs. rewards, as they can see substantial growth of 5% each year. Moreover, the performance of various strategies used in management of hedge funds experienced a greater feat, despite having less asset classes to choose from.
Over the years, the hedge fund industry has shown consistent growth and increase in its regulatory issues. This is because managers are using strategies that: increase the overall amounts of risk, while offering the possibility of greater financial rewards. As a result, the odds improve that investors could experience significant losses in these areas (which increases the overall amounts of regulatory scrutiny).

Hedge funds will experience more changes that will lessen its variance in comparison with mutual funds. Where, it will determine its investors and techniques of management without being greatly influenced by: institutionalization or regulation of the finance industry. In 2005, Ibbotson and…

risk and return for an investment portfolio that includes five asset categories: stocks, bonds, mutual funds, options, and precious metals. The purpose of diversified portfolio investment is to maximize portfolio expected return for a given level of risk, or to minimize risk for a specific level of expected return. This paper reviews mathematical formulae for modeling risk and return which provide a rationale for investment strategies and portfolio management. The paper also discusses risk and return objectives and expectations, along with investment risk profiles.
Risk vs. Return Measurement

In an ideal world, the typical investor would select investments whose attributes include high returns coupled with low risk. In reality, there are few of these kinds of investments available, consequently financial managers have gone to great lengths to develop methods and strategies that allow them to come as close as possible to selecting the ideal investment. One such financial theory for managing…

Strategy
Over the last several years, the markets have faced a tremendous amount of volatility. Part of the reason for this, is because the global financial crisis and subsequent recession caused the Dow Jones Industrial Average to decline to 6,547. Then, it would climb over 68% to cross above 12,000. This is important, because it is showing how there are tremendous opportunities for investors. However, in order to attain above average returns requires that you are using a strategy that is: embracing growth and minimizing risks as much as possible. To achieve this objective requires having: an asset allocation strategy that will incorporate balance and value. Once this takes place, it will provide the greatest insights as to how we should structure a portfolio that will maximize the total return investors are receiving in the year ahead.

The Portfolio Philosophy

The basic strategy that we will be using is to purchase those…

As a part of my work, I have conducted on-going analysis and monitoring of the risks involved in a variety of investment funds. I remained at the cutting edge of market research, for I must be aware of the subtlest differences amongst different funds. This invaluable work experience has not only steeled my stomach to risk, but has shown me the importance of mathematics and programming in the financial field. Quantitative data, properly studied, remains the most invaluable tool in risk management today.
I have also already begun my initial creative work in the field. Recently, I developed my first quantitative model at work, an original program using Excel to generate risk ratings for different funds, based on statis data. Through my employment as well I have broadened my knowledge base about derivates in the capital markets products, through direct involvement in transactions as well as self-study conducted at in-house…

Finance
For my portfolio, obviously there are certain stipulations that limit my choices, namely the $10,000, which is a pretty big constraint. I thought I would start with the shares. I went with Brocade Communication Systems, which trades as BCD on Nasdaq. This company makes and sells networking hardware and storage solutions. The current market price is $9.72 (MSN Moneycentral, 2014). I will be buying 200 shares, which gives us a price of $1,944.

The option is going to be call options on Starbucks. The expiry will be October 18, 2014. The strike price is $80, which has an ask of $1.25. The current price of Starbucks is $70.15 so the time value is presently $1.25 (MSN Moneycentral, 2014). The total cost of this is going to be 1.25 * 500 = $625.

The time horizon of this portfolio is long, since this is for my retirement. Therefore I can undertake a fair…

Does having two companies' stock increase the expected value of your portfolio? If not, then why is diversification a good thing in this example?
Having the portfolio which consists of two equal stocks doesn't increase portfolio's value, which will remain the same ($105,000), yet it decreases the risk of winding with nothing, as the probability of winding with nothing in case portfolio consists of two companies' stocks is twice smaller (0.25 against 0.5) and the probability of favorable outcome is 0.75 compared to 0.5 for a one company stock portfolio.

A d) Calculate the probability that you will end up with nothing, and the probability that you will end up with $210,000, for each of the following cases: splitting your money evenly between 3 stocks, between 5 stocks, and between 10 stocks. What is happening to the probability of "in-between" outcomes as portfolio diversification increases in this example (no exact answer…

As a result: "In 1940, just 16% of Americans invested in stocks. Now over 50% do -- thanks to the explosion of 401(k) plans, the wide availability of mutual funds, lower trading costs, and accessible research." would call Charles Merrill a leader rather than a manager, although it is likely that he was a strong manager of his organization as well. But he was a leader because he led his industry in a whole new direction, and changed that industry permanently in the process. According to Leadership vs. management (April 14, 2004), Charles Merrill was not just a leader of an organization; he was a leader of change within his entire industry:
www.1000ventures.comLeadership is about getting people to abandon their old habits and achieve new things, and therefore largely about change - about inspiring, helping, and sometimes enforcing change in people. "While there can be effective management absent ideas, there…

There is a risk of loss as a result of nationalization).Transfer risk ( when a foreign authority restricts the transfer and delivery of foreign currencies), settlement risks, legal risks, market risks as well as liquidity risks.
Conclusion

Hedge funds are therefore not suitable for investors because they effectively underperform other hedge funds. This fact that there are tighter constraints, stricter regulations as well as lower incentives should deter retail investors from investing in hedge funds. The disadvantages and risks associated with hedge funds makes them unsuitable investment vehicles for retail investors.

eferences

Agarwal, V., Nicole M. Boyson.,NM and Naik, N (2007)Hedge funds for retail investors -- An examination of hedged mutual funds

C o n n o r, Gre g o ry and Mason Wo o (2003), "An Introduction to Hedge Funds," working p a p e r, Financial Markets Group, London School of Economics.

Cottier, P (1996) 'Hedge Funds and Managed Futures - Performance,…

Investments are the assets or items purchased with the anticipation to generate the income in the future. In the economic sense, investments refer to the goods and services purchased and not consumed today for the purpose of generating wealth in the future. Similarly, going to a university or building a factory to produce goods and services are the examples of investments. Within a financial environment, investors purchase assets with the hope that they will appreciate in the future, thus, creating wealth for the investors. Examples of investment in the financial circle include purchasing of stocks, or real estate property with the anticipation that they will appreciate in the future. Despite the benefits that can be derived from the investment purpose, the investment is not something an individual can take lightly. Investors are to implement a careful planning to reap the benefits of an investment. Typically, an investor can lose his…

financial assets in order to recommend the appropriate investment vehicle for the client. Analysis of different investment vehicles shows that ETFs are the best investment option for our clients. The ETFs are the basket of securities that combine stocks, bonds, cash, commodities and other securities. The report diversifies our investment options choosing the stocks, bonds and cash from different industries. Based on the historical data, our average annual returns are 38% revealing EU 32,997 as our annual returns from our initial investment capital of EU 100,000. After 3 years, the net worth of our investor will be EU 457,901, which include the cumulative returns and the capital. However, the net worth of our investor will be EU 5.38 Million after 10 years. The report also carries out the sensitive analysis on the investment option assuming that our investment choice is affected by the macroeconomic forces. The report reduces our…

Individual Financial Contingency Planning
Temporary Assistance is the temporary help for the needy women, men, and children. If one is cannot find a job or the job is not providing enough, and unable to work, temporary assistance ill help in paying the expenses. There are two types of Temporary Assistance programs: Family Assistance (FA) and Safety Net Assistance (SNA). Family Assistance is the provision of cash assistance to the needy families, which include minor children living with their parents or caretaker relatives. According to Family Assistance, qualified adults are limited to receive the assistance for a period of sixty months in their lifetime (Gitman & Joehnk, 2007, p. 21). Once this time has expired, not all the family members are legible to receive family assistance and other benefits. Parents and other adults who have been receiving Family Assistance must comply with the requirements of the fed in order to receive the…

Another reason why corporations choose to hold cash balances in a centralized repository is that the variety of accounts can be better managed as a mutual fund more complex investment structure than would be the case if the subsidiary alone managed the funds. A greater quality of information is available for example in the leading financial centers globally that would otherwise not be the case in more remote regions, making it possible to make more informed and correct decisions (Mitsos, 1997). The accuracy, efficiency and speed of decision-making based on more efficient use of information has led to more advanced forms of cash management than would have been the case on a per-subsidiary level (Fresard, Salva, 2010). Lastly, by having a centralized depository of cash for all subsidiaries, firms can hold less accumulated total cash, freeing up financial resources for other investments (Fresard, Salva, 2010). Companies become more efficient at…

pay back period" is the length of time that is required to cover the cost of an investment. I would use this in order to make a good financial decision.
The calculation that I would do is as follows:

"http://i.investopedia.com/inv/dictionary/terms/paybackperiod.gif" d?

For instance, if a project costs $100,000 and is expected to return $20,000 annually, the payback period will be $100,000 / $20,000, or, in other words, $20 per 5 years.

The better investment is the one that has the shorter pay back period.(Investopeida)

Another tool that I would use to measure the time value of money to assess long-term projects is Net present value (NPV). Businesses use it to measure the value of a time series of cash flows both incoming and outgoing. For instance, when all types of cash flows are incoming (such as bonds or coupons), and the only cash outflow is the purchase price, the NPV is the present value…

Shuffle master is a little known equity, as evidenced by the fact that it is 95% owned by institutional investors such as pension funds and mutual funds. It is what would be considered a small cap stock, with a capitalization of a mere 500 million dollars. The company is unique in that it maintains almost no debt and maintains no long-term debt. With a beta of.659, Shuffle Master has less than half the undifferentiable risk that its market peers do, but more than the industry average of.54. Shuffle Master's P/E is higher than average at slightly more than 32. The industry average is between 25 and 26. According to the most recent income statement, 12-month trailing revenue growth totals 17%. This is exceeded by earnings growth, which at 20.9% reflects both decreasing expenses and the non-existence of interest expenses.
Shuffle Master's profit margin, at 25.82%, is quite high, as is its…

It is therefore possible that these professionals will need to investigate all levels of the customer's needs. Issues such as hopes, dreams and desires are for example taken into account together with more concrete issues such as taxes, insurance and retirement. These are all considered together in terms of the customer's stated needs. Because this is such a complicated and involved process, many financial advisors limit their expertise to provide optimal advice on only one aspect of financial planning or investing, while others attempt to be as global as possible. The customer with singular or simplified financial needs may make use of the former, while those with several different assets and investments may make use of the latter.
What type of financial advisor is chosen therefore depends greatly upon the specific needs and perceived financial competence of the customer. A customer who is not very informed regarding the financial world…

Financial Ratios
There are a number of financial ratios that will be valuable to a small business person. A small business is often concerned with cash flow, so ratios that are the most concern fall into three categories -- liquidity, profitability and efficiency. Liquidity ratios measure the ability of the company to meet its upcoming financial obligations. These ratios are important for ensuring that there is enough cash on hand to pay the bills. The profitability ratios are important because the business will be more successful if it is able to manage its margins. Efficiency ratios are concerned with how fast items like inventory or accounts receivable are turned over. These ratios are a direct reflection of the company's working capital, and improvements in these ratios improve the working capital flow.

These ratios are going to be slightly different from those that a large corporation values. The large corporation actually does value…

Capitol Crimes
In the United States, the government has had to deal with accusations of corruption and duplicity from the beginning of the nation's creation. Unfortunately, many of these accusations have been found to be true and those in positions of political power have been guilty of abusing their roles and of committing illegal acts while purportedly representing the people. In recent years, the corruption has become even more blatant and obvious. Instead of properly representing their constituents, elected officials are becoming more concerned with their political careers and with increasing their power and expanding their bank accounts. This is completely antithetical to the original purpose of the representational government system that the Founding Fathers instituted (Barbour 20). In Bill Moyer's documentary Capitol Crimes, the filmmakers explore just how bad the issue of political corruption has become and how it affects everyone who is led by that corrupt government. Examining the…

conflict of interest is at the core of nearly every ethical dilemma. A conflict of interest, simply put, is a situation in which the decision maker has two or more competing interests. Market timing, late trading, insider trading, illegal trading, fraud, partial disclosure, non-disclosure...the manifestation of conflicts of interest is seemingly endless. The business landscape today is a minefield of ethical disasters, some of which have already occurred, some of which wait quietly in the shadows to erupt into scandal.
In the summer of 2002, when Congress was attempting to decide how to clean up the shady financial practices of Corporate America, mutual fund company lobbyists convinced lawmakers to exempt their area of the financial services industry. As of September 2003, when the Attorney General for New York State, Eliot Spitzer, revealed his "stunning" charges of illegal trading in mutual funds, this industry has occupied center stage in the spotlight…

Within the 336 pages of the ogleheads' Guide to Investing, Larimore, Lindauer and Le oeuf deftly discuss and analyze virtually every area of ogle's investment principles and strategies for the common, everyday American investor. For instance, in Part One "Essentials of Successful Investing," the authors explore how important it is for investors to examine very closely their own financial status before taking the proverbial plunge into mutual funds or any other type of investment. Three ways to accomplish this includes altering one's mentality related to living a sound financial lifestyle, calculating one's overall net worth, paying off high interest credit cards and loans and commencing to create an emergency fund which can be used as a back-up source of income (the ogleheads' Guide, 2006, pg. 4).

Certainly, in order to become a successful and profitable investor in mutual funds, it is of prime importance to start investing as soon as possible,…

investment management in the financial sector. The paper highlights the world's present macroeconomic situation. It further details the macro economic situation and the way it affects investment decisions in several investors. In addition, the paper describes a sample investment programme and provides critical decisions to investors as well as investment vehicles used by the investment moguls. The paper summarises practical exercises in compound investment management growth and the use of capital investment.
Investment management is an important part of the global financial sector, which is key in financing vast business empires. Investment management is incorporated under state laws employing several individuals and creating revenue to key players in the financial market. It is the management of several securities and assets to meet specific objectives for the benefit of the investors. The products used known as investment vehicles can be of minimal risks such as government bonds; carry high risks such…

ehavioral Finance and Human Interaction a Study of the Decision-Making
Processes Impacting Financial Markets

Understanding the Stock Market

Contrasting Financial Theories

Flaws of the Efficient Market Hypothesis

Financial ubbles and Chaos

The stock market's dominant theory, the efficient market hypothesis (EMH) has been greatly criticized recently for its failure to account for human errors, heuristic bias, use of misinformation, psychological tendencies, in determining future expected performance and obtainable profits.

Existing evidence indicates that past confidence in the EMH may have been misdirected, as the theory's models do not show a thorough understanding of trading operations in a realistic light.

Researchers have suggested that a variety of anomalies and inconsistent historical results demand that traditional financial theories, namely the EMH, be reconstructed to include human interaction as a key decision-making process that directly affects the performance of financial markets.

This research paper aims to determine whether or not there is a need for a refined financial model that incorporates the…

For the layperson who is likely to be invested in a stock, a company or a mutual fund, this does reflect a core obstacle to effective decision-making. Indeed, as with many aspects of globalization, the implications of international accounting standards as a concept would only arrive at many of its conflicting points after a period of unencumbered idealism. Again, as the more general discussion on globalization denotes, the implications of a multinational framework for commercial exchange had long been done with a pronunciation of interests to the benefit of the world public. Namely, the assistance which could be provided through the opening of trade barriers in a general sense to the developing sphere, for one instance of commonality, might be seen at the base of the philosophical impetus for both the process of globalization and the symbiotic drive to create universal standards for financial reporting. At this time, it…